Four decades of Teles from parts.....and growing.

[Unwound G]

I have been practising on my router table and these are the end results after many trial runs.

I will still be getting necks and exotic wood bodies from Warmoth though.

 

[mayfly]

Very cool!  what's the wood?

 

[Unwound G]

Lighter is Alder and more reddish is Mahogany.

 

[NonsenseTele]

WOW!! how did I didn't see this thread!! EPIC!!!
Such nice teles!!!!

 

[bbl4ck]

WOW, I just found this thread as well.  What a sweeeet collection of tele's  :headbang1:
I really like the acoustic/electric tele  :icon_thumright:
I have been wanting to do something similar ever since I saw Santana playing his nylon string tele.
:kewlpics: :rock-on:

 

[Unwound G]

Another baby on the way.  Is it a Tele ?  Is it a Start ?  No, it's a Hybrid.

More pictures to come.

 

[Cagey]

Nice color, and a nice finish as well.

Are those bridge pivot holes really as out of line as they look?

That's the main problem with that bridge design; there's no way to get those holes perfectly aligned, which means the bridge never pivots properly. Between that and all the friction preventing that base plate from ever returning to neutral consistently, we have the impetus that drove the Floyd Rose and Wilkinson designs.

 

[JazzX]

Whats the neck pickup in this tele?

 

[Cagey]

It's called a "Charlie Christian" pickup. 

 

[Unwound G]

Cagey, thanks for your kind comments.  Yes, the bridge pivot holes were not well drilled because I did them using a handheld drill except the two outer most holes were drilled using a drill press.  I do all my tremolo pivot holes that way taking the Floyd Rose/Wilkinson theory of perfectly positioning the two "fulcrum" posts so the tremolo will return to pitch.  The other four inner holes are more for cosmetics rather than support. They will eventually be widened and positioned in such a way that they do not really hinder any rocking motions of the tremolo.

Leumasd, as Cagey said the neck pickup is a Charlie Christian type.  A few companies make them including Lollar and Vintage Vibe pickups.

 

[JazzX]

Thanks, i just found it on the Lollar webpage. Does it fit in a standard tele neck pickup rout, or do you have to custom rout it?

 

[Unwound G]

Thanks, i just found it on the Lollar webpage. Does it fit in a standard tele neck pickup rout, or do you have to custom rout it?

I am afraid you have to do a custom rout.

 

[JazzX]

Aww man.  :sad1: :laughing7:

 

[Jumble Jumble]

As long as you can find someone to do you a pickguard (maybe pickguardian?) then doing the wood mod won't be hard. It won't show if you go outside the lines a little.

 

[Unwound G]

If you go for Vintage Vibe's version of a Charlie Christian pickup named CC Rider (http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/windows/sc_ccWin.html), here is the routing and pickguard cutting dimensions.

]

 

[Unwound G]

Finally got round to cutting the TeleStrat pickguard using my trusty old scroll saw.  Here is a mock up.

 

[Cagey]

That is really attractive! Usually, the hybrid styles are more of a curiosity than anything else, but that one truly works.

 

[bagman67]

That's pretty dang nifty.


Bagman

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Absolutely superb work on the pickguard. It doesn't look like a confused-identity hybrid at all - it looks like that is exactly how the guitar is meant to look. Well done.

 

[AutoBat]

so it seems you can polish the turd that is Telecaster; all you have to do is make it look like a strat!